Monday Motivation – Talk to Men About Women's Leadership

July 20, 2015 by erin@voterunlead.org

VRL Advisory Board Member, Jimmie Briggs, shares tips on how to talk to men about women’s leadership. He notes that it is important to personalize the issue and relate to a personal experience with him. Connect with him on his level so it helps him to understand that women’s leadership will help him and the goals he has for his community. What have been the types of conversations you’ve had?

Over the past two decades, Jimmie Briggs has earned a reputation as one of the most respected human rights advocates in the field of journalism. Through extensive travels to countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, the St. Louis, Missouri-native and graduate of Morehouse College has produced seminal reporting on the lives of war-affected youth and children soldiers, as well as survivors of sexual violence. A National Magazine Award finalist and recipient of honors from the Open Society Institute, National Association of Black Journalists and the Carter Center for Mental Health Journalism, his book on child soldiers and war-affected children Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go To War won him accolades in 2005, and took readers into the personal journeys of war-affected youth.

Further, Briggs has served as an adjunct professor of investigative journalism at the New School for Social Research, and was a George A. Miller Visiting Professor in the Department of African and African-American Studies at the University of Illinois: Champaign-Urbana. His upcoming book The Wars Women Fight: Dispatches from A Father to His Daughter, narratively examines violence against women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and the United States. Most recently, Jimmie Briggs conceived of and founded the Man Up Campaign, a global initiative for mobilizing young people to stop violence against women and girls through the arts, sports and technology. It formally launched during a Young Leaders Summit at the University of Johannesburg during 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, bringing youth together from 25 countries throughout the world, many from Sub-Saharan Africa. For his work with Man Up Campaign and the issue of violence against women, Briggs was selected as the winner of the 2010 GQ Magazine “Better Men Better World” Search, as well as one of Women’s eNews’ 21 Leaders for the 21st Century.

Man Up is a global campaign to activate youth to stop violence against women and girls. Harnessing the universal power of music, sport and technology, Man Up provides innovative training, resources and support to young women and men and the organizations with whom they collaborate. The Man Up Campaign formally launched during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, bringing together a diverse group of up to +100 women and men (ages 18 to 30 years) from 25 countries. Occurring at the University of Johannesburg, this international forum was the first of its kind to develop capacity and technical expertise among young people of both genders, who are committed to stopping violence against women and girls.